'We can't keep living like this'

As mosquitoes buzz around him, Bob LeMay dips a 7-gallon jug into his neighbor's pool and watches it fill with greenish water.

He lugs the heavy container back home and pours the contents into his toilet, a primitive flushing technique made necessary by the power outage engulfing parts of the Northwest Suburbs.

The tiny Schaumburg neighborhood's well and septic systems rely on electricity to function. Until ComEd fixes the subdivision's downed lines, Sunset Hills residents cannot shower, water vac flooded basements or dispose of human waste in a modern manner.

"We don't know how much more we can take," LeMay says. "ComEd executives wouldn't live like this."

An estimated 73,500 ComEd customers continued to struggle without power Saturday, more than 48 hours after angry storms and at least one tornado ravaged the Chicago area. The vast majority -- 54,000 -- are in the Northern suburbs, while another 6,600 are in the south.

The city of Chicago still has 13,000 ComEd customers without power, company spokeswoman Judy Rader said.

To speed up repair times, ComEd flew in help from as far away as Texas and Philadelphia Saturday. By late afternoon, an estimated 700 crews were working to restore lines.

ComEd's call centers also have been manned by a full slate of service agents since storms pummeled the region Thursday, triggering more than 300,000 calls in the past three days. On average, the company's 150 representatives field 1,200 calls per hour, corporate officials said.

Despite the efforts, service may not resume in some areas until late this week.

"We're still anticipating it's going to be a multiday restoration effort," Rader said.

Though ComEd already has restored service to 550,000 customers, frustration among the powerless mounts. The novelty of Third-World living clearly has given way to first-world demands.

Those affected miss the big necessities like refrigeration, sump pumps and lights. They also mourn the little luxuries like television, the Internet and hair dryers.

"It's just harder to do normal, everyday things," West Chicago resident Monica Maris says. "I went to sleep at 8:30 last night because there was nothing to do. I(have) to put on my makeup with a flashlight."

In Des Plaines, Victor Kamka settles into his lawn chair, watches shin-high water lap down his street and waits.

Going on three days without electricity, there's little else to do.

"We got to wait until we get our power then maybe we can do something," shrugs Kamka, 77, whose lives along a water-logged stretch of Big Bend Drive.

A generator that fuels the home's sump pump and keeps Kamka's basement clear of water needs gas every two hours. Between feedings, Kamka chips away at a crossword and cautions drivers to "slow down" lest water pool even higher.

The Des Plaines River -- which envelops the Big Bend Drive peninsula where four dozen families live -- crested at 8.5 feet Saturday, the National Weather Service reports. Water levels should drop steadily, backing away from flood levels by Wednesday, forecasts show.

In the meantime, generators hum noisily through the otherwise quiet neighborhood, playing the same grating soundtrack of power outages across the area.

The electricity problems hurt more than felled trees and foot-deep floods, Des Plaines Mayor Tony Arredia says as he wades through water with shoes in hand Saturday.

"It's a triple challenge," Arredia said. "But the hardest part? Power. You've got to have power."

In Schaumburg's Sunset Hills, neighbors remain sympathetic to Des Plaines residents' troubles. But they argue their plight should merit ComEd's immediate attention.

Some residents haven't bathed since Thursday, while others have signed up for new gym memberships so they can shower. They brush their teeth with bottled water and run to a nearby Burger King or Wal-Mart when they need to use the bathroom.

"We understand there is only so much ComEd can do," LeMay says. "But there are people like us who are trapped. We're worse off than most people."

All totaled, the neighbors say they have called ComEd at least 100 times since Thursday afternoon. They have reported several live wires in their backyards -- a safety issue that a company spokeswoman says would qualify the subdivision as a high-priority area -- but no crews have come.

"We're working as fast as we can," ComEd's Rader says. "Safety is our first priority."

Schaumburg Township Highway Commissioner Robert Fecarotta believes the unsanitary conditions in Sunset Hills demands immediate action. He was so angered by the situation, he gave the residents a private, direct number to a ComEd dispatcher and suggested they call the employee until a crew arrived.

As of Saturday night, the plan has not worked.

"This is unacceptable," Fecarotta says. "…(ComEd) cannot allow people to live under these conditions."

While the residents wait, their fears intensify. One woman has fought sleep for three days because she's panicked the generator running her sump pump will run out of gas. Another man worries about his wife's medicine spoiling inside the refrigerator.

Bob LeMay has spent more than $1,000 on a generator and other survival supplies since Thursday. He slips into his car a few times each day and turns on the engine just to feel the cool air conditioning against his skin.

He worries about how much more his neighbors can withstand. He has seen incredible acts of kindness, with residents sharing generators, water and bug spray. He also has witnessed uglier moments, like one Saturday afternoon in which people traded loud, angry words about how to handle insurance matters and fallen trees.

"We've reached the breaking point," LeMay says. "We can't keep living like this."